Online Mindfulness Meditation Therapy for Stress

Mindfulness meditation as I teach it is the about meditating on the mind so that we can fundamentally change the relationship that we have with the reactive thoughts that feed stress and anxiety. We are NOT trying to escape our thoughts but actually meditating on them. This is essential because you cannot stop thinking, but you can break free from the habitual reactivity that creates suffering.

We can learn to be with stress thoughts WITHOUT becoming lost in those thoughts. We develop what I call objective consciousness, where we see the thoughts as objects that arise in the mind but where we do not become identified with those mental objects. This is quite different from the subjective consciousness of the reactive conditioned mind that is the cause of our stress, anxiety, depression and suffering.

The more we develop objective consciousness the less stress we create. This is a primary focus of mindfulness meditation.

Thoughts are not the problem; the problem lies in the relationship that we have with our thoughts. Mindfulness training is about correcting this relationship and we do so by deliberately meditating on the stress thoughts. When we see them as objects then they lose all power to cause suffering. It is like seeing a snake or a mosquito clearly; if you see it then it has no power to hurt you; but if you do not see it then you are at risk of being bitten. What protects you is the degree of objective consciousness that you have.

Objective consciousness is non-reactive, but instead clears the mind and creates a space in which you can discover how to respond skillfully to life and its difficult challenges.

Online Mindfulness Meditation for Effective Stress Reduction via Skype or Zoom

Stress is a conditioned habit. We learn to react to situations, people, thoughts, memories, beliefs and expectations emotionally by becoming irritated, angry or upset. We believe that stress is an inevitable consequence of the challenges of life, that its cause is external. But this is erroneous, it is a delusion. We create stress through our blind conditioned reactivity. Stress is a learned reaction, which means it can be un-learned.

There is absolutely no law that says that you have to react with stress, irritation or anger. Stress is JUST A HABIT – and HABITS CAN BE CHANGED!

Old style talk therapy can be helpful, but often it does not alter the the underlying process that is the real cause of your emotional stress, depression or anxiety.

The same can be said for medications – they may provide a temporary relief from symptoms, but medications are not able to heal the underlying psychological cause that generates your emotional suffering and stress. That underlying process is psychological in nature and requires a psychological approach to bring about significant change.

The kind of psychotherapy that I provide is called Mindfulness Therapy, which is teaches you effective mindfulness-based methods for managing emotional stress, including all forms of anxiety as well as for treating depression or other emotional difficulties caused by conditioned negative thinking.

Most of my clients report measurable reduction in the level of stress and anxiety after the first few sessions of mindfulness training with me via Skype.

Contact me to discover more about Online Mindfulness Therapy and to arrange for a therapy session with me.

During our sessions together I will teach you how to work with the underlying stress-producing thoughts and beliefs that cause emotional sress. Successful stress management depends on you breaking free from the habit of reactive identification with these reactive thoughts and beliefs.

Everyone that I have worked with really benefits from the mindfulness approach that I teach for healing emotional suffering…

“I have practiced working with difficult emotions with many wonderful Buddhist teachers, including Pema Chodron and Adyashanti. Peter taught me aspects and nuances that were completely new to me that are making a huge difference and allowing me to meet and heal these parts of myself more efficiently and actually with less distress.”

GO TO MY CONTACT PAGE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SCHEDULE ONLINE MINDFULNESS THERAPY OVER SKYPE WITH ME TO HELP YOU LEARN EFFECTIVE STRESS REDUCTION TECHNIQUES

Online Mindfulness Therapy for Stress Reduction over Skype

Emotional stress is something that we all experience when we have to cope with the many demands and responsibilities of home and work. Stress can be defined as an intense emotional and physiological reaction to a situation or the mental representation of a situation as a memory or anticipation.

Chronic stress is produced when stress reactions do not resolve themselves and become habitual. The sustained physiological effects of chronic stress can have a serious effect on the body and lead to an increased risk of disease. The psychological effects of chronic stress produce fatigue, poor concentration and an impaired ability to perform tasks, which leads to more stress.

Stress produces a general feeling of helplessness and negativity, both of which reinforce the stress reactions. This produces a lack of vitality, enthusiasm and creativity and many people describe chronic stress as a heavy blackness that covers everything and in its severe form chronic stress can result in depression, which is a state of extreme emotional fatigue and vulnerability.

Chronic stress can result in an increased chance of accidents as well as reducing work performance. Chronic stress also reduces our listening and learning skills and this reduces the quality of communication in our personal relationships and family.

It is well-recognized that stress reactions are learned and originate from the influence of our own mental outlook and from belief patterns acquired from our parents, family and culture. Stress always contains both an objective component and a subjective component and in most situations, it is the habitual subjective emotional reactivity that generates the emotional tension and physiological characteristics of stress.

There is pain and there is suffering. Pain is the objective component that is often inevitable or unavoidable, but suffering is a subjective reaction that we generate and add to the pain. The Buddha described this subjective suffering as dukkha and not surprisingly, mindfulness, which is one of the central teachings of the Buddha, was and continues to be very relevant for working with and resolving emotional stress.

The other major source of stress comes from unresolved traumas that result from physical injury, assault, domestic abuse and violence. In general this kind of trauma-related stress results from experiences and associated emotional reactions that we cannot process, because they are outside of our normal range of experience.

These unresolved wounds become repressed and submerge into the subconscious mind where they continue to simmer and generate a generalized anxiety. This is described as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Occasionally, in severe cases of PTSD resulting from war or other intense situations, the stress reactions will erupt as nightmares and flashbacks in which the individual re-lives the trauma.

Whatever the source of the stress reactions, it is important to understand that each reaction has an internal structure in the form of negative thoughts and beliefs and associated emotional energy that gives power to these thoughts. It is often very helpful to examine these negative thoughts and try to change them.

This is the approach taken in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Another approach is to change the emotional energy that empowers the thoughts and beliefs, because without this compulsive charge, the beliefs will have no power to generate stress. This is the approach taken in Mindfulness Therapy.

Through careful attention and investigation of the emotion through mindfulness, we can uncover the internal structure of the emotion and discover what needs to change. As the structure changes, so does the emotion. Resolve this and you will neutralize the stress reactions.

Online Mindfulness Therapy is available throughout the USA, UK and Western Europe and world-wide. All you need is a reliable internet connection and you are ready to start Skype counseling.

GO TO MY CONTACT PAGE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SCHEDULE ONLINE MINDFULNESS THERAPY OVER SKYPE WITH ME TO HELP YOU LEARN EFFECTIVE MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES